home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Cream of the Crop 11
/
Cream of the Crop 11-1.iso
/
comm
/
htmst512.zip
/
BRUCE512.DOC
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-12-06
|
25KB
|
478 lines
BRUCE512.DOC 1 Revised: 12/06/95
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact information
For the following routines: AV, BFIND, COPSINCE, DATES, DIRCOMP, DIRTOTAL,
FILL, FIXTEXT, FORTUNE, HTMSTRIP, PAGINATE, READINIT, and READMAKE-created
files:
Bruce Guthrie
Wayne Software
113 Sheffield St.
Silver Spring, MD 20910
fax: (301) 588-8986
For the following routines: CHANGE, CONVERT, FILUPDAT, ISAMFIND/ISAMMAKE, READ,
and READY:
Bruce Guthrie
Room H-4885
U.S. Dept of Commerce/ESA/STAT-USA
Washington, DC 20230
fax: (202) 482-2164
voice: (202) 482-3234
E-Mail: bguthrie@doc.gov
Foreign users: Please provide an Internet-reachable e-mail address in all
correspondence if you have any hope of getting a reply! Internet e-mail is the
preferred method of contact for all other users as well. America On-Line,
CompuServe, and Prodigy all offer Internet e-mail access so get with it!
Since these programs are typically "freeware" (with the exception of people
trying to make money from them instead of me), they generate maybe $100/year in
revenue for me. As such, my ability to afford wonderful customer support is
somewhat restricted. Please do not leave messages saying "Call me long
distance". Also, please be specific about what problems you encounter and
include command-line inputs as well as any control or INI files that you're
using.
The "production" releases of these programs are posted directly by me (Bruce
Guthrie, the author) on the Simtel ftp site at ftp.coast.net. More information
about locations at this site is provided later. People are encouraged to upload
them to bulletin board systems but I do not upload them to BBS's myself.
Standard disclaimer in this society: Wayne Software disclaims all warranties as
to this software, whether express or implied, including without limitation any
implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose,
functionality, data integrity or protection.
BRUCE512.DOC 2 Revised: 12/06/95
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction
This documentation provides some overview information on a number of utilities
that have been posted by Wayne Software. All programs described herein were
written by Bruce Guthrie. Most are distributed with a Wayne Software copyright.
Others were written for the U.S. Department of Commerce. All are free for use
provided relevant documentation is kept with the programs, no changes are made
to the programs or documentation, and they are not bundled with commercial
programs or charged for separately.
CHANGE, CONVERT, FILUPDAT, ISAMFIND/ISAMMAKE, READ, and READY are excluded from
the commercial-packaging restriction. These programs are owned by the U.S.
Department of Commerce and may be re-distributed without restriction.
People who need to bundle AV, BFIND, COPSINCE, DATES, DIRCOMP, DIRTOTAL, FILL,
FIXTEXT, FORTUNE, HTMSTRIP, PAGINATE, READINIT, or READMAKE files in commercial
packages other than shareware/freeware collections must pay a $50 registration
fee to "Wayne Software" at the following address. READMAKE-created files are
also subject to this limitation. I don't expect to make any money from these
utilities but I don't want others to sell them instead.
This collection of utilities were compiled using Microsoft's Visual BASIC for
DOS 1.0 compiler. In each case, Thomas G. Hanlin III's excellent PBClone
routines, release 2.3, provided additional functionality. Since Tom has
announced that he will be dropping support for his PBClone routines to allow
himself to spend time on a real life, future directions for my routines is
uncertain. The basic routines should be able to be maintained indefinitely;
we'll see. I keep thinking that I should be doing Windows programming but it's
hard to get psyched up for that when you think of Windows as a computer virus.
(Don't even think of asking me what I think of Bloatus Notes please...)
Each of the utilities are separately described in a like-named *.DOC file. This
documentation (BRUCEymm.DOC--the file release date is indicated by the "ymm"
parameter) serves to summarize the various utilities.
Most of the routines have defaults that can altered by using initialization
files (inifiles). These are described in the appropriate documentation. (One
thing about *.INI files; if you don't have one, it's in your interests to
specify the "/-I" parameter. Otherwise, the program searches your entire DOS
path looking for the file.)
Wayne Software also writes programs, batch files, and sets up menu systems for
people on a for-fee basis. If you desire this service, contact Wayne Software
at the address specified above.
BRUCE512.DOC 3 Revised: 12/06/95
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The programs themselves
The utilities are uploaded with a ZIP name that includes the year and month of
the release in a "ymm" format ("409" is September 1994 version). The files are
posted directly by the author to the Simtel archives at ftp.coast.net and are
available via anonymous ftp through that site. Users are encouraged to post the
files on bulletin boards and such but, again, the author directly posts only to
the Simtel archives.
If you're using a version of the programs that's more than a year old, it's
almost always the case that there's a newer version. Please check the ftp site
for an update. Alternatively, send $10 made out to "Wayne Software" to the
Wayne Software address above and I'll send you everything on diskette. (If you
need anything other than 3.5" high density, specify that too please.)
The current version of each program is documented below. In addition, the
Simtel subdirectory name, the Simtel one-line description, and the regular short
file description (from the *.DIZ file) are provided for each of the programs.
This listing is current as of the December 1995 (512) release.
SimTel/msdos/arcutil/
av509.zip Archive view: Free ZIP etc directory viewer
AV.EXE: Archive directory viewer. Presents list of files in archive (ZIP, ARC,
etc) and lets you sort as desired. Also allows resetting of the file date based
on the archive's contents.
SimTel/msdos/textutil/
bfind511.zip Boolean FIND command (BFIND BEGIN & END)
BFIND.EXE: Allows Boolean-type FIND requests. For example, find any line with
one string AND another one, or any line with one string OR another.
SimTel/msdos/textutil/
chang510.zip Change strings in text files
CHANGE.EXE: Processes change commands in files. Files can be of any size and
type (e.g. binary or text) and are processed quickly. Up to thirty change
commands can be processed in a single pass. Also provides ability to remove
trailing spaces from text files.
SimTel/msdos/spredsht/
convr512.zip Convert dBase, ASCII-delim, fixed, 1-2-3
CONVERT.EXE: Converts between data formats: FROM dBase, ASCII-delimited
(typically commas between fields and quotes around strings), and fixed field TO
Lotus WKS, ASCII-delimited, dBase, and fixed field.
BRUCE512.DOC 4 Revised: 12/06/95
SimTel/msdos/dirutil/
cops509.zip Copies files modified since given date
COPSINCE.EXE: Copies all files modified since a given date. Primarily used for
making sure you have a back-up of stuff and also to copy updated programs to
another place. Lets you define your own groupings of files if desired.
SimTel/msdos/batutil/
dates511.zip Warns you in advance of birthdays etc
DATES.EXE: Program that warns you in advance when an event like a birthday,
anniversary, or holiday is coming up. The idea is to give you advance warning
so you can send a card or get out of town in time.
SimTel/msdos/dirutil/
dirco512.zip Updates files based on source directory
DIRCOMP.EXE: Similar in some ways to DOS's REPLACE command but adds ability to
delete extra files in the destination subdirectory, copy hidden and system
files, and prepare a report showing inconsistencies. Is frequently used by
network administrators to update workstation files.
SimTel/msdos/dirutil/
dirto510.zip Directory lister and totaller
DIRTOTAL.EXE: Prepares report showing files in subdirectory or drive. Allows
some restriction requests (show only files with date greater than a certain
value). Similar to Norton's FF and Ray Van Tassle's WIZ command (which is a
great program but it doesn't work on network or CD-ROM discs) in some ways but
presents a more formal report. Also allows you to look for duplicate file names
and search by attributes or dates.
SimTel/msdos/diskutil/
fill512.zip Stuffs as many files as possible on disk
FILL.EXE: Program designed to move files off to floppy diskettes, taking the
biggest files first and skipping those that won't fit. Also provides option of
splitting large files up, creating a status report, and other features.
SimTel/msdos/dirutil/
filup510.zip Copy updated files based on a control list
FILUPDAT.EXE: Program which compares a selected list of files in a source path
against those in another path and copies those that have been updated. Similar
to DOS' REPLACE command but works from a stored list of files and can handle any
number of directories.
SimTel/msdos/textutil/
fixtx512.zip Translate text file characters en masse
FIXTEXT.EXE: Program which applies a user-definable character-translation table
to a text file. Can allow you to convert graphics characters to their ASCII
equivalents, lowercase letters to uppercase letter, etc. Can also be used to
translate DOS text files to Mac or Unix text files and vice versa. Can also
expand tabs, remove trailing spaces, and remove backspaces.
BRUCE512.DOC 5 Revised: 12/06/95
SimTel/msdos/batutil/
fortn510.zip Fine-tunes DOS FOR command w/options
FORTUNE.EXE: A tuner-upper for the DOS FOR command. Generates a batch file
which does all those wildcard things you wished FOR could do (like "FORTUNE IN
(*.BAS) DO RENAME %A %2*.*" to remove parts of file names). Lets you do all
sorts of things including distinguishing file name roots from their extensions
as well as incrementing file names by specified values.
SimTel/msdos/textutil/
htmst512.zip Reprocesses HTML pages for humans to read
HTMSTRIP.EXE: Goes through downloaded pages from the Web and removes imbedded
HTML commands. Reflows paragraphs and tries to make it basically readable. Can
be used in conjunction with the PAGINATE command to produce even more finished
output. # unit verbatim
SimTel/msdos/textutil/
isamf509.zip Full-text searching help desk documents
ISAMFIND.EXE and ISAMMAKE.EXE: Programs that work in conjunction to provide
full-text searching of text files. This is useful for helpdesk applications and
other functions where you want to search for files and retrieve the "best"
document that matches your search criteria.
SimTel/msdos/textutil/
pagin512.zip Paginates text (indexes, sorts, tables)
PAGINATE.EXE: Reformats text files with imbedded formatting codes. Handles
things like titles, footers, indexes, alignment, justification, multicolumn
listings, etc. Also provides support for imbedding tabular data in
ASCII-delimited or dBase formats which can be imbedded and/or sorted in your
reports.
SimTel/msdos/textutil/
read509.zip Free viewer, also make any text self-viewing
READ.EXE, READY.EXE, READINIT.EXE, and READMAKE.EXE: Text file browsing
utilities. READ--Supports marking, copying text, reading Unix and Mac text
files, etc. Handles with files of 16,000 lines or less (approx 800,000 bytes).
READY--truncates or wraps lines over 80 characters in length but handles files
of an unlimited number of lines. READMAKE--Takes an ASCII-text file and makes
it self-viewable (using a READ clone).
BRUCE512.DOC 6 Revised: 12/06/95
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revision history
Detailed revision histories for the programs are only maintained for the last
three releases. After that, you get the major revision summaries only for the
next three releases or so. No one reads this junk anyway, right? Programmer
types like to put it in to justify what they've been doing over the last couple
of years.
-------------- (full detail; revisions made 1 to 3 months ago)
Release 95/12:
All routines: This release is dedicated to the comic strip "Calvin and
Hobbes" which is about to disappear from 2,400 newspapers across the world.
I'm not alone in knowing that I'll miss that strip, the only really bright
spot in comics these days. (Being a nerd, I also enjoy "Dilbert" but that
strip never brings out the wonder of life, just the basic horrors of the work
place.) Now I'll never know the horrors that someone like Calvin will face on
his first date. (Can you imagine how he would have perceived of something
like a bra strap?) It was also nice to know someone who was socially less fit
than I was even while his cohort was so damned suave.
Some routines may not work with Windows95's new directory format. I'm not
crazy enough to have installed the 1.0 version of an operating system so I
don't know but you might keep it in mind.
CONVERT: Now allows you to read fixed-fixed files which contain lines which
do not end with CR/LF. These are typical of files created on a mainframe or
copied from a tape. The routine SPLITREC was previously included with the
routine to get around this but that's being dropped with this release. Now
allow the input and output file types to be the same; useful if you want to
just reformat some existing data. New parameters: /SCAN=n (allows you to
specify the number of records to scan for maximum field widths if /FROM ASCII
and /-INDEF are specified) and /GAP=n (adds n-characters to each output field
if /-INDEF and /TO FIXED are specified so columns will be spaced out a
little). Added a field-definition file (SIMIBM.DEF) for the SimTel file
archives. Cleaned up the output field-definition file a little. Changed the
field-definition file to make the decimal count and output length optional.
DIRCOMP: Now allow for up to 10 file exclusions.
FILL: Added a message for "last disk of /MULTI set" if you're writing to the
last of a multi-disk set. Also /LAST and /-LAST option indicator to control
whether it shows up or not.
FIXTEXT: Added automatic detection of input text format (lines end with
CR/LF, CR alone, or LF alone). Makes the program ideal for automatically
converting all files in a given subdirectory from, say, Unix text files to DOS
text files. This became necessary as I started downloading more files from the
Web. Dropped a number of parameters related to this: /CRLF, /CR, and /LF.
Fixed-length input files now require /n parameter instead of both /-LINE and
/WIDTH=n parameters. Fixed-length output files now require /TO n parameter
instead of both /TO -LINE and /WIDTH=n parameters. Dropped /WIDTH=n
parameter. Now allow the output files to be created in another subdirectory,
allowing you to convert a whole bunch of files from something one place and
create them to another subdirectory. Changed default to be not to produce a
*.BAD file (/-F).
BRUCE512.DOC 7 Revised: 12/06/95
HTMSTRIP: Decided HTMSTRIP did a decent enough job handling the files that
the second PAGINATE pass was no longer necessary so /-PAG (don't use PAGINATE)
is now the default. Split HTMSTRIP out from the PAGINATE ZIP for the same
reason. Added parameters: /SPACES, /-SPACES, /TAB=n, /WARNINGS, /-WARNINGS,
/RULE=string. Added support for HTML pages with Centering, whether PAGINATE
is used or not. Added ability to replace [Image], [Input], and [Link] with
your own strings. Lots of bug fixes. Added lots of additional codes in the
HTMSTRIP.INI file as specified by Dave Raggett's HyperText Markup Language
Specification Version 3.0 draft (03/28/95). Lots of debugging on tables
including handling (in a way) tables embedded in tables. Dropped /FORCE
parameter. Added automatic detection and skipping of GIF, JPEG, and BMP files
so you can process all the files in your cache subdirectory.
PAGINATE: New /Linitfile parameter (allows you to replace characters from the
input file when you write out the file). New marker commands: -TITLE,
-FOOTER, -HEADER (turn off existing titles, footers, and headers), and
PAGEEJECT=string. Dropped HTML and -HTML market commands since HTMSTRIP should
really be used instead. Removed HTMSTRIP from the ZIP and separately
distributing. Fixed following bugs: (1) reduced chance of blow up if totally
whacked ASCII-delimited files, (2) the RIGHT marker command didn't work, and
(3) fixed a bug which kept writing out Alt-255 characters for things like
bulleted items; they are now replaced by regular spaces on output. Other
changes: (1) Got tired of it automatically generating an extra page (complete
with title) if you just happened to write to the last line of the previous
page so made titles conditional on actually printing something afterward
(unless EJECT FRONT or EJECT BACK is specified). (2) Am now providing a file
PAGNOASC.INI which removes graphic and other possibly non-printable characters
on output (see /Linitfile parameter). (3) The program now removes leading
spaces from input sections in which "# CENTER" is in effect; this way
re-centering can be successfully done.
Release 95/11:
BFIND: Added /EMPTY and /-EMPTY options. Switched it so the program reads
the input files in binary mode which means it won't blow up on non-text files
like it did before (although, admittedly, searching for strings in non-text
files isn't really advised). Switched the program so it would work with DOS
text files (lines end with CR/LF), Mac text files (lines end with CR), or Unix
text files (lines end with LF). Recoded so the program automatically presumes
search for two strings is "AND" unless otherwise specified (so "BFIND SimTel
Archives *.TXT" is the same thing as "BFIND SimTel AND Archives *.TXT").
DATES: Allowed "/C" to be used to designate the date input file names. This
allows them to be entered in an *.INI file. Fixed up the DATES.TXT
distribution file to correctly reflect formula for start and end of Daylight
Savings Time in the United States (and of course released the version just
after DST ended...).
DIRCOMP: Fixed a bug with the /-F option.
FIXTEXT: Added /Linitfile option. More debugging.
HTMSTRIP: Added automatic wrapping based on the desired line length so you
don't have to use PAGINATE. Added indication of input, link, and image
regions as suggested by the HTMLCon program by Satore Township. Also switched
to using a user-provided lookup file for the &xxx; HTML replacement codes as
suggested by that program. Added several new options including /Linitfile,
/WRAP, /-WRAP, /SYMBOLS, and /-SYMBOLS. Fixed up some stuff related to
BRUCE512.DOC 8 Revised: 12/06/95
<PRE>/</PRE> blocks.
READY: Added /LOAD option.
Release 95/10:
BFIND: Added wildcard and @listfile support to program.
CHANGE: Added @listfile support to program. Finally added some wildcard
support for the /FROM specification (warning; nothing that fancy!). Rewrote
the documentation a bit to highlight to/from/in specifications better.
CONVERT: Fixed a bug with writing to DBF files when you wanted input fields
dropped. Fixed a bug which periodically reclassified fixed-field input files
on you and then added a /-VER option which turns off all input verification if
nothing else works correctly.
DIRTOTAL: Sigh. Someone ran it on a disk with more than 32,000 files in a
single subdirectory (people do this?) and requested that it be expanded to
allow for that. So made that change. Also expanded it for drives larger than
2.1GB.
FILUPDAT: Added /ERROR and /-ERROR parameters to determine what happens when
a source or destination subdirectory are missing.
FIXTEXT: Fixed up a bug with combined *.INI files. Added wildcard and
@listfile input file name support to program.
FORTUNE: Maintenance release. Been a year since the last release and a
number of changes have been made in terms of documentation and *.INI files and
such.
HTMSTRIP: New command. Is included in the archive with the PAGINATE command.
Allows you to process HTML pages from the Web. It strips the codes and
reformats the pages appropriately, making them somewhat readable by humans.
Primarily of use when used in conjunction with the PAGINATE command so is
included in that archive.
PAGINATE: Archive file includes the new HTMSTRIP.EXE command. New command
line options: Added support for wildcards and @listfile specification. Made
the default output extension configurable using /EXT=.xxx. Added /PAUSE and
/-PAUSE options. New marker commands: Activated SUM and BREAK commands so
you can total up columns of numbers, create subtotals, and such. Added
support for INDENTER=string (mainly because I was thinking of e-mail
responses), FLAG=string (which is related to INDENTER=string anyway), and
RULE=string (needed for some HTMSTRIP options) markers.
-------------- (kind of terse; revisions made 4 to 6 months ago)
Release 95/09:
All programs: Switched documentation to include page headers, full
justification, etc using PAGINATE command.
CHANGE: Added wildcard specs for the input file.
ISAMFIND/ISAMMAKE: Lots of changes (parms added and dropped). Added support
for combining files to be processed into a single file.
BRUCE512.DOC 9 Revised: 12/06/95
PAGINATE: Added support for the output file name in titles, footers, etc.
READ: Modified program so Alt-xxx keys work for searching just in case you
want to search for non-ASCII characters. Fixed some problems with searching
for short (1 character or less) strings in reverse. Fixed a lock-up that
happened when you asked for "next" search and there wasn't anything to search
for yet.
READY: Added line processing ranges.
Release 95/07:
AV: Rewrote using ISAM. Slower but no limits.
DATES: Added the ability to include imbedded decimal codes in the file.
Added the ability to have a day repeat each month such as "XX/10/XX Mortgage
due".
ISAMMAKE/ISAMFIND: Lots of debugging done. Added READY.EXE to the ZIP file
and switched it to be the default text viewer.
PAGINATE: Fixed a problem with EMS support and stack overflows.
READMAKE: Fixed a bug which sometimes gave you "permission denied" errors
when trying to view the help screen.
READY: Added tab expansion, /TRUNCATE, /SPLIT, /WRAP, /INDENT=n,
highlighting, Ctrl-PgUp/Ctrl-PgDn, /COLOR=nnn, /PORT=port, /Iinitfile, /-I,
/MONO, and /COLOR parms.